Texas mother charged with murder after her toddler daughter fell from a third-floor balcony

A Houston Mother has been arrested after police say she deliberately dropped her 17-month-old daughter from a hotel balcony Galveston.

Police responded around 9:45 a.m. Wednesday to reports of an abandoned child. Upon arrival, police found the child, identified as Hannah Yonko, bleeding on the sidewalk. First responders determined she needed life-saving care and began treatment. She was later transported to the UTMB Galveston Trauma Center.

However, she was pronounced dead at around 10:30 am, shortly after arriving at the hospital.

Three stab wounds were found on Hannah’s body, a probable cause statement said. An officer later found her mother, Channel Yonko, 30, crying and asking for help. She started making comments about her daughter, saying she might be sick. Yonko was then taken by police for further questioning.

Her sister, Mercedes Yonko, told police she shared a hotel room with her at the Beach Front Palms Hotel. Channel had traveled to Galveston to spend time with her sister. Mercedes said Channel had sole custody of her daughter.

On the day of Hannah’s death, the sisters met at a different location. Mercedes said she saw Channel pushing a stroller. She thought Hannah was in the stroller when she saw her sister, but later told police she never actually saw the baby. Still, she said she had no reason to doubt that the baby was not in the stroller.

Mercedes said she wanted to go back to the hotel room, but Channel told her not to.

Channel allegedly told her sister several times: “Don’t go back to the hotel.” Mercedes said she thought it was strange that Channel would say that.

While searching a parking garage at the hotel, two officers found a trash bag containing a key card, a black-handled “skinning knife,” plastic sand toys, unused diapers and unopened children’s snacks in a trash bin. Police later found footage of Channel in the hotel lobby pushing the stroller.

Another footage showed Hannah falling from the third floor and landing in the grass before rolling onto the concrete sidewalk where she was found.

Channel has been charged with capital murder. She is being held in the Galveston County Jail without bond. An attorney for her was not listed.

“This is a terrible crime. All children deserve to feel safe when they are around loved ones, especially their own mothers,” said Galveston Police Chief Doug Balli.

“No one ever wants to make this call. No first responder ever wants to respond to the scene of a child who is a baby and is so injured that he might not make it.”